The Waiting Savior

     Would you like to know the one thing I hate most?  I hope so, because I’m going to tell you.  I hate my sins.  There is nothing in this world I find more loathsome than my sins.  They wouldn’t be so bad if I had a lapse in judgment once, learned from it, and never committed that sin again.  But unfortunately I have a rather thick skull and seem to learn very slowly.

     So I find myself sinning over and over and over again.  I’m not just sinning either.  I’m repeating the same sins constantly.  I do something I know I shouldn’t.  I beat myself up over it for a day or so, telling myself to grow up and never do that again.  Then the next time I’m tempted with this sin comes along, and what do I do?  I repeat it, having apparently learned nothing the first time.  I beat myself up over it again and began the process over.

     So I totally understand the words of the prophet Nephi when he writes, “O wretched man that I am!  Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.  I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.  And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins…” (2 Nephi 4: 17-19 in The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ)

     But I know that a sinner such as I has hope.  I have hope because of the Hope of Israel, my Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  He has descended below all things, taking upon Him all the sins and afflictions of the world.  He has suffered for my sins so I wouldn’t have to if I forsake my sins and repent.  So I have a hope in the Son of God.  And you do, too, even though you’re a sinner, too.

     You may think, “There is no hope for me.  I’ve done too many bad things to be able to be forgiven for my sins.”  But let me remind you of a couple stories I know showing otherwise.

     In the Book of Acts (The New Testament), we read that the apostles of Jesus Christ chose seven men to assist them in testifying of Jesus Christ.  One of these was a man named Stephen.  Stephen went throughout the land testifying of Christ, and for this he was taken and stoned by those who persecuted the followers of Christ.  One man, Saul, held the clothes of those who martyred Stephen and looked on with approval.  He then went about persecuting the followers of Christ, dragging men and women out of their homes to through them into prison.  (Acts chapters 6-8)

     Yet the time came that Saul repented of the things he had done wrong in persecuting the followers of Christ (Acts 9).  A careful study of his life from that time on will teach you that he became one of the greatest witnesses of Christ in his time.  He tells us in his own words that he is free from the blood of all men because of the testimony he has born.  (Acts 20:26) 

      Alma the Younger and his friends, the sons of Mosiah, were in a similar situation.  In the book of Alma (The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ), we read these men went about persecuting the followers of Christ.  But Alma called to repentance by an angel of God.  He tells us that for three days after this he was “racked with eternal torment” and “tormented with the pains of hell” because his sins were so great.  (Alma 36:12-13)  He states, “Oh, thought I, that I could become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.  And now for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.”  (Alma 36:15-16)

     But then Alma remembered his father teaching of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who would come to atone for the sins of the world.  When he remembered this, he cried out, “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.”  From that moment Alma could no longer remember the pain of his sins.  Instead he felt the intense joy of Jesus the Messiah.  He tells us there was nothing as exquisite and bitter as his pain had been.  But there was nothing as exquisite and sweet as his joy had become.  (Alma 36:17-21)

     That’s what the Savior wants to give us.  He has already paid the price for our sins.  He wants to give us the exquisite joy that comes from obtaining freedom from the damnation that comes as a result of sin.  He’s waiting for us to cry out with a repentant heart, as Alma did, “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me.”  He’s waiting for us, and He will come when we seek Him.  This I know to be true.

A Fellow Soldier

     While I was in the military, I had the opportunity to spend some time serving in overseas.  While I was there, I wasn’t needed for any critical missions.  My job was to make sure our dining facility was kept safe for the soldiers and civilians that ate there.  Yet it was necessary for me to be prepared for the worst possible situations, such as being in a convey that was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED).  So, like everybody else in my unit, I went through three months of training for possibilities.

     As often happens when a unit is deployed, our unit needed some people from other companies to be fully ready for the mission we were supposed to have.  I was a part of the headquarters group, and many in this group had been sent on a deployment shortly before this mission.  So they were not required to go.  Nearly half of our headquarters group was replaced with people from other units because of this. 

       One of the new members of the unit was a married man about my age who seemed to delight in ignoring and breaking as many rules as possible.  Once he learned I was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he also took great pleasure in trying to persuade me many of our beliefs could not possibly be true.  Most of these attempts I pointedly ignored.  I love my religion with all my heart, and I love discussing it.  But I didn’t want to get into an argument with this man over it.  So I just ignored his attempts to get me to argue with him.

     Then came the day we were supposed to fly to our assigned station overseas.  It was late, all of us were tired, and I wanted nothing more than to have some peace and quiet until we had to get on the plane that would take us there.  But there was a program on the television talking about the “Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith”.  This happened to be the other man’s favorite point of dispute with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he seemed to absolutely need to argue with me about the details of Joseph Smith brought up by this program.  So he naturally kept interrupting my peace and quiet.

     I finally got fed up with it and decided to start arguing with him.  He made a point against the possibility Joseph Smith could have been a prophet.  I countered it.  I can’t remember what the point was or what my response was.  But I do remember that I failed to argue well because the Spirit of God doesn’t dwell with a contentious heart.  That is exactly what I had at that moment, so I didn’t have the help of the Lord God in defending the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Instead I sounded like a bumbling idiot, and my fellow soldier and I both knew it.

     He made his next argument and I feebly attempted to counter it.  This went on for ten minutes or so before I witnessed what I consider a miracle.  He had made an argument against Joseph Smith and I was beginning to counter it.  But he stopped me and said, “It has to be true, doesn’t it?”  I didn’t know what he meant and I didn’t want to agree with something I believed to be wrong.  So I asked him what he just decided was true.  He said, “Joseph Smith had to be a prophet, didn’t he?”

     I knew then, every bit as much as I know now, that Joseph Smith was indeed the prophet of God ordained by the Almighty to restore the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  But I had no idea how he had suddenly come to the point of completely changing his opinion about Joseph Smith.  So I responded, “Of course it’s true.  But why do you suddenly believe that?”  The truth was I suspected he was trying to trick me.

     Yet I was surprised by the response I received.  He said, “Nobody could make up The Book of Mormon.  So it has to be true.  And if it’s true, then the rest of it (meaning the First Vision of Joseph Smith, the fact he was called by God as prophet, and the validity of all he had testified of) has to be true.”

     Over time I’ve come to recognize that this man wasn’t arguing just because he wanted to be obnoxious as I had so incorrectly assumed.  He was actually interested in the subject matter.  Unfortunately I was being too selfish to be able to have the help of the Spirit in speaking on these matters with him.  But the Lord God didn’t need me in order to be able to touch the heart of this man and testify through the Holy Spirit that the Joseph Smith was His prophet.  All God needed was the setting that allowed this man to accept it.  In spite of me, He set that stage.  He provided the circumstances that would allow this man’s heart to be receptive.  And the Holy Spirit bore witness to him that The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ was true.  By this means God bore witness to him that Joseph Smith was called by God as His prophet.

     This man went on to change the course of his life.  Because he came to have faith that Joseph Smith was the prophet of God, he developed faith in the Atoning Son, Jesus Christ.  This led him to stop shirking duties, stop kicking back against the rules, and ultimately become instrumental in developing a new system the military could use in its operations overseas. 

     Now the truth is I’m not really sure what lesson you’re supposed to be hearing in this blog entry.  So, as much as I want to leave you with some closing argument, I don’t have one.  But I do testify that I know Joseph Smith was called by God to restore the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I have a testimony that his work on this earth was ordained by God, and Jesus Christ the Son helped Joseph fulfill his mission on earth.  I know The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ is the word of God and has been sent to testify of the Prince of Peace, along with the Holy Bible.  Most importantly, I have a testimony that Jesus is the Messiah and that He lives. Of this I testify in His Name, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The Place I Didn't Want to Be

     As I’ve been pondering what to write about for this week’s blog entry, my mind came to rest upon a young man I served with in Iraq.  I’ve decided I want to tell his story.  Yet in thinking about telling his story, my mind became seriously impressed with the need to first tell my story and why I was in the military. 

     During my teenage years, I had a strong desire to accomplish two goals in my life.  First, I wanted to serve as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I’ve always had a passion for the messages of Jesus Christ shared through this wonderful church, and I wanted to share that passion while serving as a missionary.  My second desire was to have a family of my own.  I’d often spend time thinking about what fun it would be to teach my children, particularly sharing with them my passion for the Resurrected Lord Jesus.

     Yet, as the time for me to serve as a full-time missionary drew near, I had some spiritual experiences that led me to conclude that wasn’t where the Lord wanted me.  So I spent a lot a time praying for guidance and finally made the decision not to go on the mission I had been looking forward to all my life.  I still don’t know if it actually was the decision my Heavenly Father wanted me to make, but I trusted it was and acted in faith and prayer.  I knew that, because of my faith, He would make my decision the best it could be for me, even if that meant correcting my decision.

     For a short time after that, I found myself feeling adrift and lost.  I no longer had a purpose.  What was I supposed to do?  Who was I supposed to be?  Where did I belong?  I really didn’t know what to do next.

     Then I received a call from an army recruiter asking for an opportunity to meet with me and discuss how the Army could help me.  When I heard the voice of the recruiter explaining the purpose of his call, my first instinct was to scoff.  I had absolutely no desire to join the military.  And, even if I did by some miracle join the military, the Army not where I wanted to be.  Who would want to join the army when the Air Force had all the best toys?  If I had to join the military, it would definitely be the Air Force.  The Navy certainly sounded better than the Army, also.  They had all the beautiful ships.  The United States Army was one of the last places I wanted to be. 

     Imagine my surprise, then, when I found I couldn’t tell the recruiter I wasn’t interested.  Instead I found myself making an appointment with him so he could visit me at home—home of all places!  “It’s okay,” I told myself.  “He’ll come, you’ll tell him you’re not interested, and you’ll move on with your life.”  Yet I knew that wasn’t true.  I knew my future was with the United States Army.  So it was that he came, we talked, and I found myself in one of the last places I wanted to be.

     This was truly a trying test for me.  I found it incredibly difficult to make it through Basic Training.  The irony is Basic Training wasn’t even that difficult when I think about it.  Sure, drill sergeants yell at you and make you do a lot of exercise.  But you know where you’re going to sleep, you know who you’re going to be with the next day, you know by and large what is expected of you the next day, and you know you’re going to get three meals of some quality between mediocre and great.  There aren’t a lot of surprises and it’s really not that difficult.

     But it was difficult for me because I didn’t want to be there.  I often found myself lamenting that I was in the military instead of teaching that Christ the Lord lives.  I hated that my life was going so much differently than I had planned.  I plotted ways to get out of my current circumstances, and I prayed asking the Lord to get me out of there and take me somewhere I wanted to be.  I had full faith in Him, and I believed He could make my life better than it currently was.  I still believed He would make my life the best it could be because I continued to trust Him and tried to do what I believed He was directing me to do.

     Irony struck again.  God did make my life better than it was, just as I kept hoping for, but He didn’t do it by taking me out of the military.  Instead He did it by helping me come to terms with my circumstances and seeing the good that could come out of it.  He started giving me opportunities to speak with others around me about God.  I suddenly found myself having opportunities to share the messages of joy about my Heavenly Friend that I so desperately wanted to share.  And God carried me through Basic Training.  He carried me through the advanced training specific to my specialty in the military.  He carried me through a tour of duty in Iraq.  And, through it all, He placed people in front of me who wanted to know what I knew about the Messiah.

     A few years have passed since that time.  Now, looking back, I can see so many large impacts the military had on my life for the better.  I have been able to grow from my time in the military, and I know that I have my Savior Jesus Christ to thank for it.  Because I had faith in Him, trusting and believing He would guide my life for the best, He did.

     From this I learned that God can make you the best you can be no matter where you’re at if you have faith in Him.  You’re life doesn’t have to follow your idea of the perfect life.  You can find yourself in places you don’t want to be.  You may have to endure some trying times you’d rather not endure.  But if you continue to trust and have faith in the Lord Jehovah, you will find God will help you through the tough times and make them good for you.

     The promise of Jesus holds true.  “”Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:  and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:28)  If you come unto Christ, the tough times won’t be so tough.  When you find yourself in places you don’t want to be in, He will make them good for you, and He will help you through.

The Enabling Power of the Atonement

     This past week as I attended my ward, I had the opportunity to speak with one of my ward members about the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  (A ward is the smallest division of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)  Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often speak of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  We recognize the eternal importance of this divine gift from the Son of God. 

     However, my experience indicates that when we speak of the Atonement, we typically focus on the forgiving power and the healing power that comes from the sacrifices made by the Lamb of God.  We don’t often focus on the enabling power.  Yet this enabling power is one of the most important parts of our lives and a precious gift that comes through our faith.  The fact is it’s vital to the success of the forgiving and healing powers of the Atonement also.  Without it we wouldn’t have the ability to become worthy of forgiveness of sin, nor would we live our lives in a manner that allows us to be healed of the various pains that strike us.

     So what is the enabling power of the Atonement?  If we turn to “Grace” in the King James Version of the Holy Bible used by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we read,

“The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.  It is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, made possible by His atoning sacrifice, that mankind will be raised in immortality, every person receiving his body from the grave in a condition of everlasting life.  It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means.  This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.”

     So the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is more commonly known as grace.  It’s the power that grants us the ability to come forth out of the grave at the time of our resurrection.  It’s the power that gives us strength and help in overcoming our sins.  It’s the power that allows us to do good in the world around us.  It’s the power to do things we wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do because we are mortal beings who don’t have the omnipotent strength of God.  In short, “It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”  (2 Nephi 25:23)

     There are so many different ways the grace of Jesus Christ impacts our lives.  I’ve seen it in my life when I’ve needed to give a Priesthood blessing to another person.  I’ll place my hands on their hand and suddenly have the thoughts and impressions that guide me through the blessing the Lord has for that person.  I’ve had my Priesthood leaders place their hands on my head and give me the blessing I needed that addressed the issues I was facing at the time, even when they had no way of knowing what was on my mind.  And I’ve received guidance and direction from the Spirit in the needs of my children and those around me.

     I’ve seen the different ways grace can impact the lives of people through studying the scripture.  It was by the grace of Jesus Christ that the Liahona worked for the family of Lehi while they journeyed in the wilderness and crossed the ocean (1 Nephi in The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ).  It’s the power that allowed Peter to discern the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5 in the New Testament).  It’s the power by which David slew Goliath before the hosts of Israel and Philistine (1 Samuel 17 in the Old Testament).  And it was the power used by Moses to part the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14 in the Old Testament).  

     The power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is immense.  It spans history from before the beginning of this earth.  Its power will reach far into the future long after this earth has passed away.  That’s because it has no beginning and no end.  It is everlasting and eternal.  And it is promised to us if we are faithful to the laws of God.